When I first heard the lead single "Building", I though to myself that this was the type of song I would expect on Promoe’s solo album rather than Looptroop album. The change of style is evident on the first listen – faster BPM, cover in neon colors…
S – I don’t know if "The Building" is closer to what Promoe has done on his solo-albums, but it’s definitely a new sound for us and we wanted to come out with something fresh and new as the first single! Embee had done the beat – not thinking about LTR – and sang a demo-chorus over the beat when me and Promoe heard it in the studio. We really loved it and decided to keep the chorus Embee had recorded.. He just changed a few words to make it fit our concept. I’m personally really happy that the track really stands out from our earlier stuff and the response has been very good! People seem to appreciate that we made a song with a strong hook, that’s also a very political song, that means something when you listen closer to the lyrics..
About the cover, I just wanted it (again) to stand out from the other stuff we’ve done. We never put our faces on any of our albums, so I thought it was time for that. And the colors are not really neon, i wish i could have put some extra colors (you need that to print neon) on there, but it was too expensive! Ha ha
You’ve been using the name "Looptroop Rockers" for your whole career, but it wasn’t till recently the word "Rockers" has been officially added. Does the name change have something to do with CosM.I.C.’s departure?
S – Like you say, we used the "whole" name for a long time, and for this release we wanted to put it in print on the album. I think we actually decided to do it even before CosM.I.C. told us he wanted to leave the group. But yeah, maybe it was also a way for us to signal that this is kind of a fresh start for LTR and that we didn’t want to hide the fact that things are changing. Plus I think it looks better in print!
What was actually the reason for his departure? Have you ever thought about replacing him with someone else, i.e. Timbuktu?
S – He didn´t like this life (on stage and on tour and so on..) anymore, so he decided to retire from LTR and spend more time at home. He’s still doing mixtapes and he has a club in Västerås called Club Solid every wednesday. We knew about this for a long time, he talked about it years earlier, so it was no shock for us.. We support his decision and I think it’s good that he follows his heart. He’s still helping us out with the website (www.looptrooprockers.com) and some design stuff and we’re still close friends.
We never thought about replacing him, that would be impossible. He is still in our crew forever.
Your album titles have always had some hidden meaning. The new album has surprisingly positive title – "Good Things". What do you consider the "good things" in your life?
P – I don’t think our other titles have had a hidden meaning, but often a heavy meaning. This time we wanted a positive title to celebrate life, love, music and good food to name a few of the beautiful things that inspired us to do this album. There are still heavy topics on the album, but the overall feeling of it should be that we souldn’t give up cus it looks dark right now – we can use the negative energy in a constructive way to change the world into a better place.
You’ve always been a conscious group, often with radical messages. What made you suddenly do such a club track with house / bassline beat as "Naive"?
S – I think "Naïve" is a very conscious song, and I think it’s cool to "package" it the way Embee did. Promoe came up with the title and we talked about being "naive". A lot of times people use the word "naive" to make somebody look stupid or childish, just because they have high hopes or dream big about radical changes. We thought it could be flipped into something positive, like a word for somebody who’s not jaded and hardened. Somebody who still has hope and believe that we can change things! So in that way i think the song follows LTR tradition, it’s just the sound that changed a bit. We recorded the vocals over a very different beat, more mellow and melancholic, but more on that in the next answer..
Embee, how did you come up with the idea of making such a dance track? Was it your plan from the start, to do this beat for Looptroop album?
E – I made the idea and harmonies for the beat in 2005. First at a norwegian airport when I had to kill a couple of hours in transit, then in the tour bus while DJ Large was sitting next to me, saying it was a "lounge"-track. Like the genre lounge, which is kind of a negative word between us… Promoe got the beat somehow and started to write a chorus for it when we were in our rented house in Hollywood last September. I was quite surprised on how he flipped it and the way he sounded on such a fast track, so we decided to do the whole song when back in Sweden. Timbuktu was also staying with us in LA and started to write the lyrics around the same time as Promoe. When we got back to Sweden, Promoe, Supreme and Timbuktu recorded the vocals in Promoe’s portable studio while I made the finishing touches on another track. When I got the vocals I just started messing around with some new ideas for the track and eventough I kept the harmonies from the initial track, I replaced the samples and the melancholical feel of the track with a heavier bassline, new drums ans so on until it became what it became.. New BPM-record for Looptroop. 128!
I’ve always listened to dance-music of different kinds and I spinned house and disco in my early days as a DJ.
You created a lot of anthems that people often rap with you on concerts. But the songs often have much deeper sense than it might look at first. Do you think that people who know your music well are concerned by the message, or do they just take it as an entertainment?
S – I know that people are concerned with the message. We get a lot of e-mails from people who are inspired or affected by the message in our songs, and that is very inspiring for us! I think that is one of the main reasons that people like and support our music. It’s always the combination – sound and meaning. But i’m cool with people who just listen to it as entertainment as well! We’re musicians, so of course we like people to listen to our work, any way they want to!
The new album contains more singing. Promoe, why didn’t you do more ragga-singing like on your solo albums? Do you want to keep the ragga-singing for your own albums or do you think it doesn’t match the Looptroop style at all?
P – Embee isn’t in to reggae music, so it comes more natural when I’m not working with him. However, I have done a lot of reggae influenced singing on tracks for Looptroop too. And actually, at least to me, my singing in general sounds inspired by reggae – cus that’s the music i listen to the most. Even though i don’t use a jamaican accent my singing still comes a lot from reggae.
How did you hook up with Rakaa? Did you plan to get him on the album from the start or did the collabo happen spontaneously?
P – It was quite spontaneous, but we were talking a lot about who from LA or the west coast we would like to work with since we were going to LA in september last year. And we’ve always been big Dilated fans, so when we got out there i dropped him a mail asking if he wanted to work with us. So we went to his place and listened to some beats, and talked about topics, and the next day he came by the house we were renting and recorded his verse in our very spontaneously built up studio. He was a great person to work with – humble and very skillful.
The album got released on Bad Taste Records. Why didn’t it come out only on DVSG like your previous albums? Did you want someone else to do all the release-related things for you, i.e. promo?
S – This album is produced by DVSG, just like the earlier ones. And it’s released with a partner (this time with Bad Taste Records, the previous ones were released with Burning Heart Records) just like the earlier ones. We produce the albums and own our masters, but we work with partners to help us out. We don’t have the time to do all the "office work" and i don’t think we would enjoy that part. We are very involved in every decision made, but we need help to handle a lot of the day-to-day business. So the set-up is the same as before, just with a new partner!
You guys are touring a lot, you have basically toured the whole world. What difference do you see between European and US hip-hop culture? How did you get accepted iin the States?
S – We have done some shows in the states, in NYC and this last september in SF and LA. The response was very good and it’s different in some ways to perform in front of a crowd who speaks english. It’s more direct and people get the lyrics right away! Of course it also different with the culture as well.. Hip hop is all over in the states and people don’t necessarily need to be "hip hop heads" to go to a hip hop show or enjoy rap music. So that’s cool in a way, but I think it also makes people take hip hop for granted and sometimes just turning it into mainstream media, only with some new slang or with a more "street" artwork. We really enjoy going to east europe to perform, where hip hop is still very important to people and so appreciated! It used to be that way in Sweden too, like ten years ago, but it kind of changed like everything else. But right now there’s a lot of good stuff coming out in Sweden, and I think we are all inspired by what’s happening at home at the moment. (Check out our friends – Chords, Adam Tensta, Mapei)
You have already had a couple of shows in Czech Republic. How do you remember your performance on Hip Hop Kemp and what can we look forward to this year?
S – I have very nice memories from Hip Hop Kemp and I’m very happy that they invited us back! We will bring a live show with a lot of energy and we’re hyped up to see our people out there again!
Promoe, you recorded a Kool Savas diss. When you perform in Germany, how are the fans dealing with it? Have you ever had some problems with it?
I don’t usually perform it, regardless if i’m in germany or any other country. It was something i had to get off my chest – to answer to his diss, but i don’t think it’s an important song that i need to include into my set.
You mentioned MySpace.com on the new album. What’s your opinion on these community servers like MySpace, YouTube, Imeem etc?
We use myspace as one of many ways to get our music out to people, and it’s made it easier for people far away from us to find our music. Other than that I don’really like it. It’s too much bullshit there, and the wrong people make the money off our music…
Are you still an active writer? Do you follow European and worldwide graffiti scene?
No, I’m not – I might do a piece every other or every third year. I was mostly active around 95-98, but rap took over more and more. If i wanted to graff seriously i don’t think i would have time to do a lot of other things. I definitely wouldn’t have time to do this rap thing – graff is a full time job!
Can we look forward to a follow-up to your solo "Tellings From Solitaria" or some other solo project?
I’ve done some freelance-producing the last years and it will come out in different costumes this year. I’ve also worked on the follow-up to Tellings from Solitaria and plan to get the sophomore release out next year. It has taken a lot of time to get the right vibe of what I wanted to do with it music-wise, but now the plot’s set!
